Ravens Gate
by s15945
Summary: The Land of Elements has descended into a war of attrition. In an attempt to fix the future, the leadership have a plan to go back and fix the past.
1. The Sages Return

Eighteen years ago the system of the Five Great Shinobi Nations was abolished, merging into one country; the Land of Elements, led by the Ōkage(1). Two years ago a group calling themselves Raven's Gate grew large enough to challenge the Land of Elements, backed by a foreign, unknown, power. The war continued on to the current day, devolving into a war of attrition, the losses taken by both sides equal, neither willing to give up. The children of many, those in power along with those of the rank and file soldiers, had lost their lives, including the children of the Ōkage and his wife, as had those of many of his close friends and confidantes. Giving up on a war that would continue until either, or both, sides were completely annihilated, the parents came up with a plan that they hoped would stop the war before it began. They would send some of their strongest shinobi to the past, which brings us to current events...

Namikaze Naruto, the Ōkage, entered the sealing room, followed by his wife, Hinata, and then their closest friends, family and confidantes. When they had all entered Shikamaru, Ino, Darui, Kakashi, Temari, Konohamaru and Kurotsuchi stood at the seven points of the sealing array that Naruto had devised in order for their, really rather outrageous, plan to work. Naruto looked at his Aide, Samui, and asked, "Do you really think that we need to do this?" knowing that whatever happened, the people assisting in the ritual would, in all likelihood, never leave the room by their own volition after it had completed.

Samui sighed and said, "Shikamaru and yourself have tried to find any other way to resolve this situation, and came up with nothing."

Naruto sighed in resignation before he, his wife, and Anko took their places in the centre of the sealing array, Hinata's eyes turning yellow with a silver, rectangular, pupil, the area around her eyes turning orange. Naruto's own eyes turned orange as he gained a yellow chakra shroud. Anko's eyes transformed into a slit-like pupil with olive-green irises, a purple shade surrounding her eyes and extending a short distance down the sides of her nose. Naruto looked at Hinata and Anko, and asked, "Ready?"

"As long as I'm with you I'm ready for anything," Hinata said, holding her husband's hand for what could easily be the last time should they fail.

"Alright then," Naruto said upon seeing Anko nod, "Let's start this already." As he did the shinobi standing at the points of the seal array started doing a unique set of handseals while Naruto, Hinata and Anko started doing a set of unique, identical, set of handseals. When they were done there was a massive influx of Natural Energy into the room, entering into the bodies of those that were performing the ritual, turning said shinobi into anthropomorphic, stone, amphibians.

XXXXX

The next thing Naruto knew, after being blown away from the rest of his team by a massive gust of wind, he was inside the stomach of a gigantic snake. He struggled around for a bit until he found that it was an active attempt at futility.

Meanwhile, in Naruto's mindscape, the Ōkage faded into existence in front of the fox's cage, who struck out at him, growling, "Yondaime!" seeing the crimson coat with black flames that resembled the Yondaime Hokage's.

"Not quite," the Ōkage commented, "Kurama."

"What do you...Wait! How do you know that name?"

The Ōkage smiled and said, "Look closer. Feel anything familiar?"

"Famil..." Kurama started to say before his eyes widened at feeling his own chakra rushing through the blonde's body. "How do you...?

"That can wait while you call young Naruto in here."

"Why would I do something like that?"

"Curiosity for one..." the Ōkage said, his former tenant growling as he knew that that alone would be enough, however the Ōkage continued on, "...of course, once you do your host will be nowhere near as weak as he is right now."

Kurama grunted, "That works," and did as the blonde requested, drawing Naruto into his mindscape as he was forming a Ram seal.

When Naruto saw the massive gate in front of him with a paper seal on it, and the other blonde nearby, he demanded, "What the hell is going on here? No...more importantly, who the hell're you, 'n' why do you look like me?"

The Ōkage sighed and said, "Look, just stand there, be quiet, and I'll explain everything to you", and to Mr. Fox over there," shaking his thumb in the direction of the cage.

Naruto said, "Huh...What do you..." before he took a closer look at the cage and saw that, indeed, the Kyūbi was sealed inside it.

"Okay, now that you know that Mr. Fox is there, I'll get on with the story, alright?" Naruto nodded. "Good. First things first… I'm you...from the future."

"Huh?" Naruto exclaimed, "But how can you be me when I'm me? Dattebayo!"

"Yes yes," The Ōkage said, sighing when he heard the verbal tick that he so detested, as it was recorded many a time during the early meetings after the formation of the Land of Elements. "I know that you're you and I'm me, but at the same time I'm you and you're me." Seeing that Naruto was going to interrupt again the Ōkage said, "Look, let me finish and then talk, alright?" Naruto nodded again. "Good. Now, let's start again. In the future all of the Shinobi Nations merged together to form the Land of Elements, and I was chosen to be the leader of that country, the Ōkage."

"Wait...What?...But..."

The Ōkage continued, ignoring his younger self's attempts to interrupt him. "I won't go into how it happened, as that may set the future on a pre-determined course, one that my wife and I have come back to try to prevent Dattebayo!...Damnit! I did it again, didn't I?" Kurama chuckled.

'_Datte...'_ Naruto thought, _'Maybe this guy really _is_ me after all...which means that what he's saying is probably true too.'_

"Anyway, two years ago, for me, a group calling itself Raven's Gate entered into a war with the Land of Elements, backed by some foreign power. In the end it devolved into nothing more than a war of attrition where we were losing an equal number of troops on both sides...That should be enough for now. As for Mr. Fox..."

"Hey! I've still got a bunch of questions for you mister! Dattebayo!"

"All of which you _will_ have answers for soon," the Ōkage said as he turned to look at the fox. "Now, as to your previous observation, before the formation of the Land of Elements I joined up with the Hachibi and became able to control your powers. Since then you and I have been partners."

Kurama angrily demanded, "You expect me to belie..."

"I expect nothing of the sort. After all, I just appeared here and told the both of you all of this. You don't know me or anything like that, so you can't be sure of my words, but then, you don't need them, do you?" Kurama growled at being called on his bluff. "All I ask is that you take it into consideration." Kurama growled his acceptance of the request. "Very well then," the Ōkage said as he started to form handseals. When he was done he said, "Yamanaka-Ryū: Nagori Tensō(2)," and placed his right hand on Naruto's head, fading away into nothing as his memories, and what was left of his once massive chakra, were transferred to Naruto, who, in the real world as well as in his mindscape, was surrounded by a blue orb of chakra, the excess of what the Ōkage had given him. His body, incapable of handling it all, subconsciously used it to stimulate his growth so that he would be able to use what had been given to him. When the blue orb dissipated he was left three inches taller, and more toned, than he had been.

Seeing the changes in his host the Kyūbi asked, "How much do you know, boy?"

"About what?" Naruto asked.

"About me."

"Oh, apparently I sealed most of my memories of you before the transfer, all I know is that I used to be able to use your powers freely, but that method will no longer work. Basically nothing has changed between the two of us."

"I see," the Kyubi said, thinking, _'I guess that what he said might have been true then, we really did get along. If that's true then maybe,' _the Kyūbi's thoughts trailed off before he said, "Alright Naruto, once you've gotten through this exam I think it would be wise for us to come to an agreement. How does that sound?"

"An agreement?" Naruto half-asked, pausing before continuing, "I'll tell you what I think about it after I hear it," no longer willing, or able, to go along with what another said, just because they said it. Naruto said, "But for now I need to get out of this snake," as he faded from his mindscape. When he 'woke up' he found himself being pressed at from all sides, still in the snake's stomach. He said, "Fūton: Tenrin." causing many blades of wind to rush around his body in a sphere, severing the snake around him.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, the other two members of his team had met up after being blown away by the same gust of wind that had led to Naruto's being the main course for the snake. When they did, Sasuke asked, "When does the ninja strike?"

Sakura said, "Uhh..." momentarily forgetting that they had set a password. When she remembered, she said, "Oh, right...A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, _that_ is the moment for the ninja to strike."

Sasuke sighed in relief that Sakura truly was Sakura and not some phony in disguise. As he did Naruto rushed up, saying, "Guys, guys, are you alright? I..."

Sakura interrupted him before he could go on though, saying, "Hold it right there," she paused for effect before continuing, "What's the password?"

"Oh! Right," Naruto said, "A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, _that_ is the moment for the ninja to strike."

Sakura, hearing the password, sighed in relief, saying, "Oh good, it's really you."

Sasuke just threw a kunai at him, causing him to dodge out of the way, causing him to demand to know what was going on. Sasuke commented, "I've got to hand it to you, you're quicker than the last one."

"What are you talking about? What was wrong with that?" Sakura demanded, not knowing what was going through her desired one's head. "He just got the password right, word for word."

"Exactly, _that's _what's wrong." Naruto sat up from his position on the ground, looking confused. "Do you really think that Naruto could memorise all that? _And_ get it word for word? Not the Naruto I know. Not in a million years. You'd have a better chance at teaching it to a hamster."

"Oh right," Sakura said, admitting both her mistake, and the level of belief and trust that she had in her teammate. "You've got a point."

"Besides, you saw the way this guy moved, when he dodged my attack. That was _definitely_ not a Naruto move. Come on, whoever you are, party's over."

The Naruto on the ground chuckled as his tongue flicked out of his mouth, running around his lips. The Naruto said, "Aren't we the clever one," in a creepy tone. A cloud of smoke engulfed the Naruto as the unknown shinobi dispelled the Henge(3), revealing that it was the grass kunoichi(4) that returned Anko's kunai to her at the start of the second exam, who queried, "Tell me, if your teammate is that dim-witted, why would you come up with a password that he'd _never _be able to remember?"

Sasuke replied, "Well, it wasn't so much for Naruto than it was for anybody else who might have been listening in on us. It was meant as a trap, and you stumbled right into it."

The kunoichi took her straw hat off as she said, "I'm impressed, you certainly haven't dropped your guard, have you? This promises to be _very_ entertaining," and licked the edge of her hat.

Sakura thought, _'Ugh, she gives new meaning to the word creepy...where _is_ Naruto?'_

The kunoichi drew out her Earth Scroll, causing Sakura to gasp in surprise, and a little bit of relief at seeing the scroll that they needed to complete the second exam so early on, causing the kunoichi to let out a sound of pleasure before saying, "You'd love to get your hands on our Earth Scroll, wouldn't you? It _would_ go _so_ nicely with your Heaven Scroll," before wrapping her tongue around it and swallowing it. She then said, "Well, when all of this is over, one of us will have both scrolls, and the other will be dead," before pulling down on the skin below her eye, assaulting Sasuke and Sakura with her full Killing Intent, causing the two genin to see images of their own death.

Sasuke, after seeing his death, thought, _'Is this...an illusion?' _He fell to his knees and threw up, _'no, it's more than that. Her Killer Intent is almost...palpable. Looking in her eyes...I saw the moment of my death! Who...who is she...wh..._what _is she?' _He forced himself to look to his right and said, "Sa...Sakura...?" only to see her shaking uncontrollably. _'No...use...she's got it...worse than me! We've got to get out of here...get away from _her_...' _He looked at the kunoichi in the eye and, seeing the depravity reflected in them, morbidly thought, _'She's...Death!' _The kunoichi stalked towards the two genin, taking her time in order to increase the fear that the two felt towards her. After three steps though she got bored and threw two kunai at the immobile genin. Sasuke, though mostly unable to move, forced himself to stab himself in his thigh, overpowering the fear that was immobilising him with pain. When he could move again he quickly got out of the way of the kunai that was targeting him and picked Sakura up from where she was, jumping through the trees in order to get away from the kunoichi that seemed to delight in their fear.

When Sasuke determined that they had retreated far enough he let Sakura down on a tree branch, collapsing against the trunk himself. She sat there, dumbfounded, for about thirty seconds before seeing Sasuke's wound and quietly shrieking, "Ohh, Sasuke!"

Meanwhile, back where they had left the deranged kunoichi, she was thinking, _'A desperate move, but a clever one. He overcame the fear with pain. So, _this _prey is not so helpless after all.'_

Back with Sasuke and Sakura, Sasuke had just pulled the kunai in his leg out of it, causing Sakura to gasp at the sight of it. She said, "That wound's really deep! Will you be alrigh..." before Sasuke clamped his hand over her mouth.

Sasuke thought, _'Gotta move! Gotta get away from her!'_ somehow knowing that the kunoichi wouldn't give up that easily. _'But how?...Where?'_

Sakura thought,_ 'I've never _seen _Sasuke like this before! It's got _me _scared,' _as if it was some kind of impossibility, and then saw a massive snake slink up behind them, hanging down from a tree. She tried to talk around Sasuke's hand, but, unable to do so, ended up forcing his hand away from her, yelling, "Sasuke, watch out!" as if the snake held no imminent danger towards herself. As the snake bit down on them they jumped in opposite direction, away from the gigantic reptile.

As Sasuke flew through the air he said, "Ahh! Unbelievable! I didn't even notice! I'm losing it!" as the snake coiled around the tree that they had just been resting on before flinging itself at the arrogant Uchiha. As it flew towards him, Sasuke saw a transparent image of the crazed kunoichi's face superimposed upon the snake's. "No!" Sasuke screamed, "Get away-y!" as he drew, and threw, five shuriken at the snake, embedding them in its eyes and the top of its mouth, so that they easily penetrated it, sticking into its brain, killing it immediately. It fell into the bough of a tree, not falling to the ground, blood seeping out of the wounds.

Sasuke, breathing heavily as he looked at the snake, gasped at the same time as Sakura when they saw a patch of the snake's skin break away, as if it was cut. As the kunoichi rose up from the cut, she said, "I sense your fear and desperation. It's only natural. The _prey_ must _never_ let down its guard. Not even for a moment, in the presence of its _predator,"_ and started to chuckle, as her tongue shot out and started wiggling all about.

The kunoichi, like the snake had done, curled snakelike around the tree, shooting along the branch, before being stopped by three kunai thrown in her slitherpath, a voice announcing, "Looks like I got here just in time." The three shinobi looked in the direction from which the kunai had come from, and saw Naruto, although he seemed to be a bit taller than before. What Sasuke and Sakura couldn't tell, although the kunoichi could, was that Naruto's eyes had changed somewhat. The irises of his eyes were yellow, the pupil slightly elongated, the area around them orange.

XXXXXXX

A/N

Attacks

(1) Ōkage = Great Shadow

(2) Yamanaka-Ryū: Nagori Tensō = Yamanaka-Style: Memory Transfer - A jutsu of the Yamanaka clan that allows a shinobi to transfer some, or all of their memories to another. This requires a great deal of chakra to perform, as such very few are actually able to use it.

(3) Henge = Transformation - Self explanatory

(4) Based upon the English dub rather than the Japanese rendition


	2. Naruto Stands Tall

From his position, kneeling on the branch, Sasuke thought, _'That idiot! He should've stayed hidden, then at least one of us could've survived!' _before shouting. "Run away you fool!"

Naruto coldly said, "Shut the hell up, brat."

The kunoichi thought, _'Ohh...the blonde brat seems to have had a complete change in his personality...I wonder why. Hebinawa didn't have that kind of ability.'_

Naruto appeared in front of Sasuke, unable to be followed by either Sasuke or Sakura, barely able to be followed by the kunoichi. When he came to a standstill he backhanded Sasuke across his face which, due to his being in Sage Mode, caused him to fly over to Sakura's position on the branch of another tree. He called out, "Sakura, get that dead weight out of here!"

"Dead...Weight...!" Sakura managed to say, stunned and offended that the deadlast would have the nerve to insult her, admittedly one-sided, love in such a way. "Why you!" Sakura growled, before jumping from her branch, leaving the immobile Sasuke where he had landed, to attack Naruto with an overhead scissor-kick, which failed spectacularly as Naruto merely raised a single arm to block it. He grabbed her leg with his other hand and threw her back to her branch, next to Sasuke. "What the...But how could he..."

"Thanks a lot Sakura," Naruto said, his voice laden with sarcasm.

"What?!" Sakura half-demanded..

"You just showed this hebi-teme, some of what I can do. Now, get the hell out of here before you do something even more stupid!," Naruto ordered.

"Uhh..." Sakura said, coming out of her stunned state, caused by Naruto's actions, having always been able to get away with belting the blonde in the past.

"Now you fool!" Naruto yelled, having not once taken his eyes off of the deranged kunoichi in front of him.

The kunoichi thought to 'herself', _'So, that truly is a form of Sage Mode...and those wretched Toads' version if I'm remembering correctly.'_

Sakura bolted, taking Sasuke, and the Heaven's Scroll, away from the demented kunoichi's reach.

After his 'teammates' had left Naruto said, "Now that the distractions are gone, why don't you take that mask off, Orochimaru!"

"Orochimaru?" The kunoichi said, feigning ignorance, "Whatever do you mean? I'm Hiore, a kunoichi of Kusagakure/"

"Cut the crap. Kusa-nin are all taught the Kusa Bunshin in their academy days. All that is reflected in your chakra is snakes."'

"So, that truly _is _a Sage Mode then," Orochimaru more stated then asked.

"Yes," Naruto said, seeing no true reason to hide that which was truly rather obvious to the two of them.

"Then I'm curious, what is your relation with that dunderhead Jiraiya?"

"_That_, has absolutely nothing to do with _you,_" Naruto said as he disappeared once again, this time appearing in front of Orochimaru, who had still yet to remove the Hiore mask. He used a Frog Kata punch, breaking the snake-users sternum. and all of his ribs, sending him flying through five massive trees before being embedded in a sixth.

As Orochimaru emerged from the tree he coughed up blood, signifying that he had received some internal injuries, as expected, from the punch. He said, "You damn brat!"

Naruto smirked and said, "If you get beaten by 'a brat', I wonder what that'll do for your reputation?"

"What?" Orochimaru said, stunned at the blonde's taunt, before chuckling. After his chuckles died down, he said, "Enough playing around," wiped some of his blood off of his shirt and started doing handseals. When he was done he placed the hand with the blood on it on the ground and said, "Kuchiyose(1)." He was covered in a cloud of smoke. When it died down he was standing on the snakes gigantic head.

Naruto said, "So, you've summoned another snake. Is that _all _that one of the Sannin can do?"

"No. But it's all that I'll need," Orochimaru taunted.

"I see," Naruto said, "Then it's also all _I'll _need."

"What?" Orochimaru said, "I'll admit that your possession of the toads' Sage Mode is somewhat perplexing, but that's merely because nothing in your chakra suggests that you have ever summoned a creature in your short, pathetic, life."

"I see your point," Naruto commented, "but there's one slight issue that you're overlooking."

"And what would that be?"

"All that is required for a Kuchiyose is the contracted shinobi's blood," Naruto disappeared, reappeared behind Orochimaru's snake and swiped his hands in the blood that Orochimaru had coughed up as he exited the tree before disappearing and reappearing where he had been before. "Okay, that's one half done."

Orochimaru thought, _'He can't possibly be trying to use my own contract with the snakes against me? That's just not possible.'_

Naruto made the seals that he knew summoned the snakes of Orochimaru from battling against the snake-user many times, alongside his interrogation training with Anko. He said, "Kuchiyose," and slammed his hand on the ground. To Orochimaru's surprise, and horror, a cloud of smoke appeared. When it cleared Naruto was standing on the head of a massive green tree snake. Orochimaru laughed. He laughed long and hard. Naruto asked, "What the hell's so damned funny?"

"Oh, you may not know this, but that is a green tree snake. They're completely useless in battle. You might as well have not summoned it."

The snake that Naruto was standing on hissed in anger at Orochimaru's taunts. Naruto said, "Just ignore him."

The snake looked at the one who summoned her, and said, "I thought that it wasss weird that I wasss ssummoned. Orochimaru only ever summonsss Manda, or his ilk. But you aren't even contracted with usss. You alsssoo smell really tasstyy!"

"Tasty?" Naruto asked, thinking before continuing, "That's probably the Toad-style Sage Mode that I'm using."

"That makess senssee. Normally we wouldn't asssissst you on princciple alone. But I'll make an excception in thisss casssee."

"Oh?" Naruto said, "I thank you...umm...what was your name again?"

"You sshould give your name firsst."

"Right! Where were my manners! I'm Namikaze Naruto, nice to meet ya!"

"Namikazze!" The snake said, "I sshall make a contract with you laterr...but for now, my nname isss Ophion."

"Alright then Ophion, let's get this snake!"

"Gladly!" Ophion said, charging at Orochimaru and his snake."

Orochimaru said, "Go!" to his nameless snake, causing it to move towards Ophion and Naruto. It moved at a snail's pace in comparison to Ophion, who quickly got to the side of it and sunk her fangs(2) into the nameless snakes eye, killing it instantly. Naruto took the chance to kick Orochimaru hurtling through the Forest of Death.

Anko alighted next to Naruto just as Orochimaru was launched away from them. She said, "So, illustrious leader, finally got your memories back?"

"Yeah, not a moment too soon either. What about you?"

"I got mine about two years ago when I ran across a bunch of missing-nin on a mission."

"Has Hinata..."

"No, not yet. Though since yours have she'll probably be getting them pretty soon too, don't you think?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Well, at any rate, this here's an interesting lady you managed to summon."

"Yeah, she sure is. Although..."

"Although _what,_ toad-boy?" Ophion said, kinda irked at being ignored.

"Toad-..." Naruto said before he started to laugh.

Ophion looked at Naruto in a way that somehow indicated her confusion at Naruto's reaction. She looked at Anko and asked, "What's with this kid?"

"Well...smarter people than me have been trying to figure _that one_ out for a long time. Thankfully, in our time, that was a good thing."

"Your time?"

"Yeah, you see we're from..."

"Anko," Naruto said, cutting her off from continuing her conversation about his mental state with Ophion. "Orochimaru is on his way back and I don't think that I can beat him in my current form."

"Yeah, alright then, beat it."

"Sure thing, later," Naruto said before he disappeared in a yellow flash, teleporting to the kunai that he had placed in Sakura's satchel when he threw her back to Sasuke before making her head for the hills.

Anko said, "So...I'm sorry I don't know what to call you, but how about you give me a hand for a while?"

"Sssure" Ophion said, turning to face Orochimaru once again.

XXXXXXX

A/N

(1) Kuchiyose = Summoning

(2) I am aware that Green Tree Snakes possess no fangs, but hey, snakes don't possess horns either.


	3. Battle of the Snake Clan

When Naruto appeared to Sakura's side she shrieked and pushed him away from her before realising that her pocked was now lying in pieces on the ground where Naruto's feet were, then she saw the kunai that was stabbed into the useless material. She started to move towards Naruto to start complaining about her wrecked clothes. Sasuke beat her to the punch, so to speak, when he grabbed Naruto by his collar and demanded, "What the hell was that all about you moron?"

"Let go of me, you arrogant prick," Naruto said, gripping Sasuke's wrist and twisting it so that he was forced to let Naruto go, lest his wrist be broken and his chances of advancement be just about eliminated. Naruto shoved him away from him before saying, "We have a mission to finish," walking away from Sasuke and Sakura, heading towards the tower at the centre of the forest that was their destination.

"What the hell is your problem Naruto?" Sakura demanded, getting more annoyed at the impertinence shown by Naruto, ordering Sasuke, who was superior in every way(in her mind), around like he was nothing. "We need to stay here to let Sasuke rest. His leg needs to heal for us to have any chance of succeeding in this exam."

"Hmm," Naruto said, sensing for any enemies in the surrounding area as he was still in Sage Mode. "No."

"What? What do you mean 'No'?!" Sakura exclaimed, getting more angry by the second. "Sasuke needs…"

"Look at the situation logically. We are in a forest with multiple teams attempting to get what we have and, if they are any good, they will have at least one member that has at least limited abilities as a sensor. In this team, that would be me. Some sensor's use scent as a way to track their quarry, in which case Sasuke's wound will attract them like a moth to a flame. Bind the wound quickly and then we're going."

Sakura thought, '_This is Naruto…there's just no way._' Sakura picked up the kunai that was sticking in her pocket on the ground and charged at Naruto, who was now looking away from them and tried to plunge it into his spine.

Naruto didn't even turn around when he grabbed Sakura's wrist before she could stab him. When he had her wrist in hand Naruto slowly turned around and looked Sakura in the eye, visibly furious. "Hardly how a shinobi of the leaf should treat their comrade," relieving her of the kunai in her hand. "Now, are you going to bind the injury that you're so concerned about, or should I knock you out and do it _myself_?"

Sakura, shaking in fear at the look in Naruto's eyes, said, "No…no…I'll do it," and proceeded to bind Sasuke's wound. As Sakura was binding Sasuke's wound, Sasuke did nothing but glare at the blonde.

When it was done Naruto led Sasuke and Sakura, who was supporting Sasuke on her shoulder, to the tree that they had stayed in the last time that he took this exam. Naruto said, "Put Sasuke in there," referring to the hollow at the base of the tree, "and get some beds set up for the three of us."

"Why should I do that? I should be making some defences while you…"

"I'll take care of _that_," Naruto said as he sat down after taking off his tool pouch and setting it on the ground next to him. Once he was on the ground he rummaged around in his tool pouch and drew a scroll, a kunai and a pen. He unrolled the scroll and started to write. Soon enough he had four tags written and placed four of them in a square around the tree at each of the cardinal points. Then he placed another four in a smaller square, also at the cardinal points. Then he made four handseals, causing translucent wall to appear around them. Each of the outer seals attached to the closest inner seal, which then connected to the next inner seal. Then the wall, and the seals, disappeared. Naruto called out to Sakura, "No matter what you do Sakura, do not try to walk more than three metres from that tree."

"Three metres?"

"If you go any further you'll be knocked out for at least a day. What do you think the chances of advancement will be then?"

"Knocked out?"

"Yeah. I just put up a barrier."

"A barrier! How could you do something as advanced as that? Even Sasuke-kun can't do something like that."

"Things are going to be a lot different from this point forth, so you'd better get used to it."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll do what you're told, or else a fate far worse than what that hebi-teme had planned, will be in your future."

"How can you…"

Naruto levelled a killing intent more potent even than Orochimaru's on her and Sasuke, knocking them out. Naruto thought, '_Hmm…maybe I should tone it back a bit after all. I forgot that this world hasn't yet descended into war. That meeting with Orochimaru brought back too many memories.'_ Naruto dragged Sakura to one of the beds she had just made before reclining himself, resting his back against one of the massive roots of the tree. He let his head fall forward to get some sleep, more tired than he'd thought that he would be after the changes that had just happened to his body.

XXXXX

Anko said, "Orochimaru."

"Anko," Orochimaru said, "Why did you come?"

"Why do you think?" Anko said, standing on Ophion's head.

"I would _like_ say that you've come to reminisce, but given that little interchange that you had with that sage brat I find it unlikely. But I _am_ curious by what he meant by 'current form'."

"Wouldn't you like to know," Anko said as the area around her eyes took on a purple shade.

"When did you become a Sage?" Orochimaru asked, shocked that he hadn't known about Anko's trip to the Ryūchi Cave. He was also more than a little annoyed that his previous subordinate had achieved that which he was unable to; become a true sage.

Ophion thought, '_That'sss a good quessstion._'

Anko said, "I'll tell you all about it once we're done Ophion. As for you though, Orochimaru, you needn't concern yourself with such things."

"Everything concerns me, Anko, when will you learn that," Orochimaru said as he did the handseals to summon a creature once again.

Once the smoke had cleared a snake just as huge as Ophion had appeared with Orochimaru standing on its head, it was Manda. Manda said, "You had better give me! one hundre…Ophiooon!" Manda hissed in anger at seeing his counterpart from the other faction.

"Manddda" Ophion hissed, even more angry than Manda at the purple snake's appearance. "Your very exisstancce, iss a blight againsst our nature."

"Pleasse," Manda said derisively, "Sso whhatt iff I asssk for sssome tribute for my assissstancce."

"We exist to assissst those that are not powerful enough to defeat their enemiesss by themselvesss."

Manda rushed at Ophion, having had the same argument time and again, neither giving way to the other. Ophion though, slithered under the branch of the tree they were on as and wrapped around Manda, constricting around him, biting into his tail, causing him to hiss in pain before trying to bite into Ophion in retaliation. Ophion released her bite and continued to slither forward so that she was out of Manda's reach. Manda wrapped himself around the tree he was on and more or less launched himself at Ophion in an attempt to bite into her. He almost did, but Anko had run down the back of Ophion and jumped off of her to punch Manda. Thanks to her being in Sage Mode her punch was powerful enough to force Manda through the thick branch to the ground. Ophion slithered around and down the tree to continue her battle against Manda as Orochimaru had flipped off of Manda when he saw what Anko was doing.

Orochimaru said, "That move wasn't from the Snake clan." Anko smirked tauntingly as she appeared in front of Orochimaru, crouching down, her torso twisted to the side, bringing her fist forward as she turned. Orochimaru jumped away, avoiding the punch that would quite possibly have been the end of him.

On the ground, both large snakes thought, '_Why is one of _our_ Sages using Frog Katas?_' then Ophion thought, '_Just a sec. That brat that summoned me was using a Toad Sage Mode, maybe he…_'

"I don't understand," Orochimaru said.

"Understand what?"

"If you went to the Ryūchi Cave why aren't you using Snake Kata?" Anko licked her lips. "Fine then," Orochimaru said, annoyed at the amazing amount of non-answers that he was getting from his former pupil. He announced, "Sen'ei Tajashu," extending his hand forward, causing thousands of snakes to rush at Anko, who, thanks to Sage Mode, weaved around all of them on her way to attack her former sensei. When she was about halfway there, Orochimaru summoned sixty snakes close to one another, effectively making a battering ram the size of the branch that they were on in an attempt to guarantee that they would hit. Anko jumped off of the tree branch and continued running towards the most despised enemy of the Land of Elements.

When the stream of snakes that she was running on stopped, she flipped back over to the branch before flipping on to a stream of snakes on the opposite side that she had just been on, Orochimaru summoning another battering ram of snakes. Through all of this she didn't stop moving forward. About a second later Anko got within reach and punched Orochimaru with the all of the remaining natural energy of her Sage Mode, hitting Orochimaru in his stomach, crushing both it and his spine before sending him through ten trees, each as thick as the one that she was standing on. Anko slapped her hands together as if she was dusting them off, before saying, "Well, I'm glad _that's_ over."

When Orochimaru stopped crashing into trees his body slumped to the base of the tree he had bumped into, his head looking at the ground. He grinned maniacally as he fumbled through a sequence of hand seals and said, "Orochimaru-Ryū: Kawarimi." His skin fell away from him as he stood up, fully healed from all of his injuries. He then disappeared in a whirlwind of leaves, before appearing behind Anko just as she finished congratulating herself. Hearing her last words, he asked, "Oh, exactly _what_ is over?"

Anko's jumped away and spun around in mid-air, landing so that she was facing Orochimaru. "How did…?"

"How did I survive? I'm surprised Anko. I'm sure I had developed my Kawarimi by the time I had left the village."

"Substitution…oh. You had that ability, didn't you?"

"I'm surprised you've forgotten. I don't know if I should be relieved or surprised by that. Although given what it gave birth to, I suppose I can settle for both."

"Heh," Anko exclaimed, "I didn't think that anybody, even you, could walk away from _that_."

"If I didn't have _that_ technique I wouldn't have. You managed to break that body's spine after all," Orochimaru said as he stalked towards Anko, who said, "Sen'eijashu," extending her hand forward, four snakes extending forth, far faster than Orochimaru's, biting down on his shoulders and shins, forcing him into the tree trunk and keeping him there. Anko took her time walking up to him and watched in shock as the Orochimaru that she was holding in place dispersed into mud. Anko thought, '_A mud clone! Just like last time._' She sighed. '_Well, it was worth hoping for at any rate._'

As Anko mulled over her past and it's mirrored now, she heard the voice of Orochimaru say, "Tell Sarutobi-sensei not to try and call off the Chūnin Exam." Then a gust of wind carried it, along with any trace of the snake away.

Anko sighed and sat down on the branch as she said, "Well I guess I had better go and tell the Sandaime about this before I go and get my illustrious leader and his wife their cloaks. But first, I need some sleep." She then lay down on the branch and rested her head on her hands before nodding off to sleep.

XXXXXXX

A/N

Attacks In Order Of Appearance

Sennin Mōdo: Sage Mode

Sage Mode is the empowered state humans enter when they learn to draw natural energy inside them and blending it with their chakra. By doing so, the human creates new senjutsu chakra that allows them to enter Sage Mode. The physical benefits of Sage Mode depends on whom the human learned under but generally Sage Mode enhances the combat efficiency of the user by allowing them to tap into the natural force of the world that opens new techniques to the user and allows them to power existing ones with senjutsu chakra.

Sen'ei Tajashu: Many Hidden Shadow Snake Hands

By increasing the amount of snakes summoned with the Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, the diversity of this ninjutsu is increased. The swarm of big snakes appear in an instant, each snake individually doing something like intimidating, diverting, or capturing the enemy in a cooperative attack. Without giving them the time to react, the enemy is entangled.

Orochimaru-Ryū no Kawarimi: Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique

Used primarily after sustaining massive injury or as a means to elude a seemingly inescapable attack, this technique allows the user to materialise a new body — typically by regurgitating it from their mouth — in a manner that somewhat resembles how a snake sheds its skin. After emerging, the user's clothing and injuries are completely restored, with even amputated limbs being regenerated. Whilst the technique has the additional advantage of potentially being extremely difficult to detect, its use consumes a great amount of chakra

Shunshin: Body Flicker; whirlwind of leaves

The Body Flicker Technique is a high-speed movement technique, allowing a ninja to move short to long distances at an almost untraceable speed. To an observer, it appears as if the user has teleported. A puff of smoke is occasionally used to disguise the user's movements. It is accomplished by using chakra to temporarily vitalise the body and move at extreme speeds. The amount of chakra required depends on the overall distance and elevation between the user and the intended destination.

Sen'eijashu: Hidden Shadow Snake Hands

The parent jutsu of Sen'ei Tajashu, this technique allows the user to eject snakes from their wrist or sleeve, usually after a punching motion. The snakes are used primarily to attack from a distance and, being snakes, can inflict multiple poisonous wounds on the victim's body or hold them in place. The snakes can also open their mouths to extend Kusanagi-like blades.


	4. Want vs Need

A/N

Three Sages

Naruto

Background: No explanation needed

Techniques

Naruto identified that he was more than strong enough even without Sage Mode. As such he deemed it such that he would not need any further Sage training.

Hinata

Background: Hinata received the toad contract from Naruto as a marriage gift. After it was clear that there was going to be a war Naruto ordered Hinata to take the Sage training. Hinata outright refused as they were still raising their second child, so Naruto took care of her training in place of Fukasaku and Shima. When Anko was receiving training from Hinata she taught her some of the Snake-style techniques. When Hinata enters Sage Mode her pupils are silver due to her Byakugan.

Techniques:

1. Form snake-like brille over her eyes

2. Increased sensing abilities

Anko

Background: In order to increase the war potential of the Land of Elements Naruto ordered Anko to undertake Sage training at the Ryūichi Cave. When she returned to the capital of the Land of Elements Naruto had Hinata teach her Frog Kata as the Toad-style fighting techniques were more useful for taijutsu. When her memories and chakra returned to her present day self she retained all knowledge related to her powers from the future. This includes how to enter Sage Mode; as such she did not need to retake the Sage Training during this time.

1. Frog-kata

2. Increased durability

XXXXXXX

The next day Naruto woke up at the sound of three enemies approaching their temporary encampment. However, from his experiencing years of warfare he was able to stay completely calm and listen to what happened with his eyes closed. A ninja from Otogakure, not that he remembered them, said, "Look at them. They are sleeping as if they don't have a care in the world."

"Careful Zaku," a female, Kin, said.

"What d'ya mean?" Zaku demanded.

"There could be traps."

"Trap? There's nothin' there." Zaku then stepped forward before Dosu placed an arm before his chest, holding him back. "What the…" Zaku started to say before he was interrupted.

"There is an arm sticking out from behind that tree. So there must be some kind of trap. Otherwise they would have kept at least one guard. All our information on him should lead one to expect at least that much from Sasuke."

Still feigning sleep, Naruto thought, '_Yeah right. The arrogant ass would just leave it to fate. As far as I can remember, last time it was only Sakura that was able to do something like that._'

Sakura heard the ongoing conversation, causing her to wake up and sat up before seeing the three sound ninja. She eeped, "Oh no!" and shook Sasuke awake, quietly screaming "Sasuke!"

Sasuke sat up and saw the sound ninja before he said, "Naruto," and grabbed a kunai. Then, kunai in hand, he charged at the sound ninja, quickly crossing the distance between him and the barrier.

Naruto said, "No wait!" unfortunately Sasuke ran into the barrier and fell forward, dead to the world.

Kin, seeing Sasuke on the ground turned on Zaku and haughtily said, "See, I _told_ you that there was a trap."

"Yeah yeah," Zaku said, not impressed.

Naruto slumped his forehead into his hand and shook it. He said, "Well, there goes _that_ surprise," mentally cursing that that was the only trap he had set up. Not to mention that his teammate would rush into something with such reckless abandon. Then he turned to the sound ninja and asked, "I don't suppose that you would be kind enough to take three steps forward, would you?" already knowing the answer.

"Kin," Dosu said.

"Yes," Kin said, knowing what her pseudo-captain wanted. She threw two senbon at Naruto that sailed right through the barrier, completely unharmed. There were bells attached to the end of each of the senbon.

Naruto said, "What the…" trying to think back to what those bells did. Kin tugged strings attached to the ends of the senbon, ringing the bells. The world around Naruto spun around, everything he saw blurring out of focus. Naruto thought, '_Genjutsu!_' he did a few handseals before saying, "Genjutsu: Flower Petal Escape," causing Kin to see Naruto explode into a mass of cherry blossom petals that rushed at her, that then consumed her body. Once he had cast his counter-genjutsu Naruto's consciousness returned to the real world and saw that, as had happened whenever he had previously used it, Kin was knocked out.

Dosu, seeing his teammate fall unconscious, glared at Naruto and demanded, "What did you just do?"

"You don't need to concern yourself with that," Naruto said as he made the snake handseal, undoing his barrier. "Alright, you can come in now."

"What do you mean?" Dosu asked.

"I just took down that side of the barrier, which means that we can fight now, well, that's if you still want to."

"How dare you!" Zaku shouted, pointing both of his arms at Naruto.

"What're you…"

Still shouting, Zaku announced, "Zankūkyokuha."

A massive gust of wind rushed at Naruto, shredding everthing in its path. Luckily for them Sasuke was close enough to them that he wasn't in the blast range. Dosu took the opportunity that Zaku had created to pick up both Kin and Sasuke before running away with them. Naruto wasn't out of the woods yet though as the gust closed in on him and Sakura, who was cowering, luckily, directly behind him. Naruto brought his fingers to his mouth, both forefingers together and said, "Fūton: Ressenpū," breathing a powerful gust of wind directly into the one generated by the sound ninja. Naruto made his attack powerful enough and wide enough to prevent it from hitting both Sakura, himself and the team of ninja behind the tree, letting it shred everything around them into pieces, conserving his chakra, should he need it.

Before he let the blast of wind die down Zaku dropped a smokebomb, covering his escape. Sakura wailed, "Sasuke!" as if he had died.

Naruto said, "Calm down Sakura. Get what's necessary from your supplies and leave the rest."

"Don't give me orders Naruto-baka!" Sakura said, getting angry through her tears. She then charged at him. When Sakura punched at Naruto she put all of her weight on her front foot, so Naruto took one step forward and lifted her leg up, shifting her centre of balance, allowing him to kick her bottom leg, flipping her on her head in seemingly one move. Sakura got up madder than ever.

Naruto stopped her tirade before she could get under way. He said, "Sakura. Since you're so caught up in trying to beat me up you must've forgotten that our teammate has been captured."

"Eh!?" Sakura exhaled, shocked that Naruto was right.

"Now, will you do what I tell you, or do I need to teach you exactly where you stand?"

"Where I…" Sakura said, for the first time truly understanding her lack of power. She then went about doing as ordered.

While Sakura got ready Naruto took the time to survey the area around his barrier to see what he had caught. He found another group with an earth scroll and took the time to replenish his tools and shuriken before replacing all of his kunai. He thought, '_I really owe the ninja from Takigakure a lot, so I guess I should return the favour, at least in part._' He then made a weaker barrier surrounding the three Takigakure ninja that was linked to all of their vital signs that would break the seal when all three woke up. When he was relieving one of the ninja of his weapons he saw that he was wearing a sky blue coat with a blue hem. He thought, _'Well, it's not exactly my style, but it'll have to do.'_ With that thought in mind he set about the task of relieving the boy of his coat and replaced his jumpsuit top with it. '_Well, that should hide at least _some_ of this god-awful orange._' When Sakura had finished she called out, "I'm do-one."

Naruto held his forehead in his hand as he shook it, thinking, '_What in the _world_ possessed me to obsess over this banshee for so long?_' Naruto then walked back to where Sakura was and said, "let's go," and jumped into the trees in the direction that Zaku had headed off in.

Sakura asked, "Uhh…can I ask a question?" nervous about the new Naruto.

"Depends on what it is."

"Why are you acting so mean since you came back?"

Naruto thought, '_Mean? She's mustn't know what the word means if she thinks I've been mean to her thus far._' "Sakura."

"Yes?"

"If all of your questions are going to be like the last one, do us both a favour and stop broadcasting out position to the rest of this blasted forest.

"Uhh…alright?" Sakura said, half guessing. "In that case, would you mind telling me why exactly we are heading in this direction? They could have taken Sasuke-kun anywhere."

"As he was running away I heard him run over a bunch of leaves before he got to the trees and he was headed in this direction. Since he doesn't seem the type to use too much stealth, while we're up here it will be relatively easy to track him."

"How did you hear 'a bunch of leaves' over the racket that you two were producing."

"I channel chakra to my ears in order to track people. It is effective for about one hundred metres or so, any further than that and well…" Naruto said, leaving his sentence open.

"I see," Sakura said, thinking, '_How could _Naruto_ come up with something as advanced as that?_' "So…when did you get this smart?"

Naruto almost stumbled off of a branch that he had just landed on when he heard his teammates question. "I didn't _get_ 'this smart' as you put it. I _always_ was. Surely you saw how I was treated by the teachers. The only one that helped me any was Iruka-sensei. Is it really any wonder my scores were low."

Sakura thought back and came to the conclusion, '_There might be something to what he 's saying. But even if that _was_ so, there's no way there has been enough time for him to correct years of neglect._' "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"That's not important right now," Naruto said, having no intention whatsoever of telling her _anything _regarding the future. "What is important is getting Sasuke back, or did you forget the stipulation on this part of the exam."

"The stipu…'All three on the team must be present'," Sakura quoted.

"That's right. That means that all that matters right now is getting Sasuke back. Besides," Naruto grinned, "I already got us an earth scroll."

"You got a…but how?"

"Remember how I told you that I set up a barrier last night?"

"Yeah?"

"A team from the Takigakure was kind enough to wander into it. That's where I got this coat."

"Your…" Sakura's eyes widened, thinking, '_He's right! How in the world could I miss something like that?_' "I guess I need to work on applying my vast amounts of knowledge in the field, rather than in theories."

"At least you have a good place to start," Naruto commented.

"Uhh…thanks…I think," Sakura said, unsure if she should accet the backward compliment.

"That said, I doubt that 'vast' is an applicable term since all your knowledge is from some academy textbooks."

"I…see…" Sakura said, getting fed up with the onslaught of criticisms that she was receiving from her blonde teammate.

The two continued their chase in silence, stopping every once in a while for Naruto to take note of some mark or broken branch. Naruto said, "Well, even if he's *not taking too much care, at least he isn't taking us directly to his hideout.""

What do you mean?"

"I mean that, despite his attempts to hide it we've been pretty much heading in a straight line since we first started chasing him."

"Then we can just keep going straight forward then and cut him off."

"Why could we do that exactly?"

"If the enemy is zigzagging to avoid a pursuant following them to their lair ends up going in a straight line then you can predict with a fair amount of accuracy where the person that you are tracking will cross over the line again."

"What if he breaks the pattern?"

"According to the theory it is highly unlikely for the chased to break a pattern after this long taking it."

"Alright then, how about this, you follow your straight line theory and I'll keep tracking him?"

"Uhh…" Sakura said, not entirely sure that she wanted to try and go out on herself now that she realised just how conceited and sheltered she had been thus far.

Sakura's decision ended up being the right one as at the same time as she was making up her mind, Zaku had decided that he had been zigzagging long enough so that it was time to head back to base. Naruto didn't let up in his pursuit. When Naruto got to the place that Zaku had headed back to base he stopped. Sakura landed on the branch that Naruto was on and started to jump to the next one. Just after she had left the branch Naruto grabbed the back of her collar, pulling her back to the branch that she had just left. As Sakura rounded on him Naruto cut her rant short, saying, "Look closer."

Sakura squinted at the path that her jump would have taken her and saw a flash where her neck would have been. Sakura gasped "Wires! How did you…"

"Our quarry stayed in this spot for a pretty long time. Given that it stands to reason that he was setting some kind of trap."

"How do you know that he spent time here?"

"I told you already didn't I? I channel chakra to my ears, increasing my hearing abilities to everything within around one hundred metres. I've been doing it this whole time."

"The entire time? But I thought that you were tracking him by…"

"I _was_ tracking Zaku by the signs of his passing, but I was also listening for other teams in the vicinity in order to avoid any further delay. Since it's already the third day I'm not going to put it down to luck since it is far more likely that the remaining teams are looking to get a scroll if they haven't already done so."

"Surely they'd be more likely to…wait…if the time is running out then the most likely place to find an opposing scroll would be from a team that already has two. That means that they would likely be setting traps nearer the tower."

"Now you're thinking," Naruto complimented. "But we can concern ourselves with that after we've gotten Sasuke back."

"Alright," Sakura said, putting the completion of the exam to the back of her mind. She then started to focus on what needed to be done, getting her priorities in the right order for the right reason.

"No-oww…what have we here?" Naruto vocalised, taking in the entire area, following the wire to its end. He saw that there were explosive tags attached to the branch that the wire passed over before going to the ground, where it was attached to a peg, running it along the ground to another peg. After wrapping around the peg it went up the tree, attached to a large branch that had been cut through, holding it back from swinging on the wire attached to a branch of a tree that ran across the centre of the clearing. Naruto could see a lot of tags that were hidden amongst the leaves. Naruto thought, '_I can't leave this here._' "Alright Sakura, I want you to circle around this area and continue tracking Zaku by yourself."

"By myself? Why?"

"Because I need to get rid of all of this," Naruto said as in waved his hands around, indicating Zaku's trap. "Since we don't have the time to wait around while I take care of it, one of us needs to stay on their trail."

"But…"

"Look, this won't take me too long so I should meet up with you before you encounter them. Just don't do anything crazy and think your moves through in their entirety."

"I'm not too sure that _you_ have any right to lecture _me_ about thinking things through Naruto." Naruto raised his eyebrow by way of reply. Sakura thought back. '_Let's see…in the Land of Waves he rushed Zabuza without any…'_ then she remembered that he had been after his hitai-ate, and succeeded in retrieving it. Defeating Haku, much the same even though she still had no idea how he did it. '_Okay, so maybe he does think some things through. But come on, give me a break._' "Fine," she said before circling around the area. After she had gone out of Naruto's sight she thought, '_Great. Now how am I going to find them? I don't have any tracking skills…wait._' Sakura then channelled chakra into her ears, enhancing her hearing the same way that Naruto had told her he had done.

Meanwhile, while Naruto was disassembling the trap he thought, '_God I hope that this will prevent 'that'.' _ He sighed and said, "Well, only time will tell," and sped up his progress, not entirely willing to let his teammate take on the sound ninja alone.

XXXXXXX

A/N

**Attacks**

**Illusion Bell Needles**

Kin uses this technique with the bells that she attaches to her senbon. The bell's ringinng produces a particular sound wave, which travels from the inner ear directly to affect the brain. This causes her target to hallucinate, seeing multiple images of her, and making very hard to tell the real one from the illusions. Additionally, the target loses their motor skills with continued exposure to the ringing. Alternatively she can make it such that the victim sees everything blurring into one another. This technique is normally used after she distracts the enemy with Shadow Senbon.

**Zankūkyokuha : Extreme Decapitating Airwaves**

Zaku creates a massive gust of cutting wind, even more powerful than his Decapitating Airwaves technique, that is capable of levelling the surrounding area, wiping out anything in its path.


End file.
